The conference organised in the cooperation with the URBAN Intergroup highlighted the major obstacles and challenges that cities and towns in Europecurrently face. The aim of the meeting was among others to discuss how local problems can be better addressed with the support of national and European financial instruments. The conference was attended by the representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Czech government, local and regional authorities and also academia and professionals from the urban field.

A few weeks after the budget review and at the eve of the presentation by the European Commission of the 5th Cohesion Report launching the debate on the future cohesion policy after 2013, the PURPLE network representatives presented some case studies illustrating the urban-rural relations in Europe. They showed clearly that peri-urban regions provide some vital resources that support Europe’s urban population and enhance the quality of life of city dwellers. The meeting was organised with the support of the URBAN Intergroup.

15 September 2010

Supporting cities for sustainable solutions – September 15th, 2010

“Local solutions are often the key to success” argued Günther Öttinger, European Commissioner for Energy on the occasion of the conference organised at the European Parliament. The speakers stressed that cities act proactively for sustainable development. They are key actors to achieve the 3×20% target and to mitigate and adapt to climate change. They emphasized also the role of cities as generators of green growth and the need to further help them achieve this goal. The event, jointly organized by the Intergroup “Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development” and the URBAN Intergroup, brought together more than 100 participants, including MEPs, representatives from the European Commission, from Member States as well as NGOs, academic organizations and the private sector.

14 September 2010

More urban, more cohesion. The added value of the urban dimension of cohesion policy – September 14th, 2010

At this high level meeting organised as a joint initiative of the URBAN Intergroup, Brussels Capital Region and EUROCITIES, participants along with Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Regional Development, voiced their support for the central role that cities must have in the future EU cohesion policy. The conference showcased examples of actions and projects already supported by EU structural funds in three different sessions that focused on integrating people and place-based policies, on working in partnership and on variable geography. It gathered over 100 participants from local and regional governments and the European institutions.

12 July 2010

Smarter Cities as a European Agenda. How could the EU contribute to the integrated and intelligent growth of urban areas – Brussels, July 12th, 2010 – organised by Oldrîch Vlasák

Representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and some larger cities, several URBAN partners and few IBM experts gathered at the seminar organised with the support of the URBAN Intergroup to discuss the potential of the ICT infrastructure in local development. The main point of the meeting was the presentation of the concept “Smarter Cities” that is based on intelligent technologies solutions for the economic growth and social cohesion in European cities.